Get Sandy on gTalk.

Email-based digital personal assistant Sandy can be a really helpful manager for to-do lists and calendar appointments, but only if you don't mind composing new messages for every change.

Worry no more. Its quite simple to add Sandy to your GTalk via its wonderful Twitter integration.

Step 1. Go to http://twitter.com/devices
Step 2. Add twitter@twitter.com on google talk
Step 3. There's no step three! There's no step three!

Understand HijackThis Results with HijackReader

We discussed a the usefulness of HijackThis in the previous article, but only if you can understand exactly what it's telling you is running. Free utility HijackReader does the leg work of checking with trusted web databases and providing Google search links to help you understand what's running on your system and whether you can safely get rid of it. It works by taking a HijackThis log file (by browsing or cut-and-paste) and analyzing its contents, then producing an HTML file with descriptions and relevant links to more information. Even if you don't quite grasp every process it reports on, seeing the "OK" next to something you're suspicious of can be a big relief. HijackReader is a free download for Windows systems only.

HijackReader [via gHacks]

Manage browser add-ons with HijackThis

One good indicator that your PC is host to malicious software is web browser wonkiness. (Yes, that's the technical term.).  But fear not. HijackThis is a freeware tool that "lists all installed browser add-ons, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect, and optionally remove selected items." The app can help not only disable malware, but to optimize your browser startup. The problem with HijackThis is that it doesn't identify malicious browser add-ons; it leaves the decisions about what to disable up to you. Recommended for advanced users.

HijackThis [via Lifehacker]

Convert DVDs to fit a single CD ?

It would be cool to shrink a 4.3 GB DVD into a standard CD, isn't it ? Well, now you know ....The process involves two steps - first you rip the DVD which essentially means that your software reads (or decodes) the VOB data files on the DVD and stores them on your hard disk. The next step involves encoding or copying back this data back to a CD by compressing it using codecs like MPEG, DivX, etc. Here are some of the most popular DVD copying programs that are available for free :

DVDx is an opensource tool for converting DVD to AVI, VCD, SVCD, DivX or WMV in one step (including multiplexing, splitting). Simply select the VIDEO_TS folder from the DVD drive and then select the output folder to save the MPG or the AVI files. The MPEG file can later be burned to a VCD using Nero Burning ROM. [read instructions]

Eazy VCD is another free DVD Backup utility that can rip a dvd movie and output it to a CD or as a MPEG files on your hard disk. It creates a bin/cue image of the DVD which can be later burned to a CD-R disk. Support both VCD (MPEG-1) and SVCD (MPEG-2) formats.

While using Nero to burn the CD, make sure you burn as "DISK-AT-ONCE (DAO)" and not "TRACK-AT-ONCE (TAO)" setting.

Simple DivX is another useful DVD ripping software that can help you convert a DVD into DivX or XviD formats using a ssimple wizard-driven approach. Simply select the DVD folder that contains the VOB files and then choose the output destination where the finished movie in DivX format would be stored.

The process can take hours so start it before going to bed the SimpleDivX will shut down the computer on completion.

Here's another tutorial with screenshots on ripping DVDs using a freeware utility called DVD Shrink.

Smartripper is another freeware but forbidden software that can be used to create a copy of a DVD on a hard drive. The program supports three copy modes: Movie (copy the movie only), Files (copy selected files only) and Backup (copy whole disk).

This is a good option if you plan to create an Audio CD from your DVD. Select the AC3 audio stream in the stream processing tab and you're ready to go. [read detailed instructions] Smartripper is able to bypass a few DVD copy protections while creating a clone on your hard disk.

While the above mentioned DVD ripping software will help you convert your DVDs into CDs, the video and sound quality won't be at par with the DVD experience. Ofcourse !

If you are planning to split a software DVD into multiple CDs, these tricks may not work as the installer is programmed to read files in sequence from a single disk.